How to Make Money With Amazon Audible: What You Need To Know

Picture this. You pull out the old iPhone—and by “old” we of course mean the newest model—and open up your Audible app. You type in your name and up pops not just one but two of your audiobooks for sale. Your name in flashing lights. Awesome!

Next you open your banking app. Money, money, money. You see audiobook royalties hitting your checking account like Steph Curry raining down 3-pointers.

How cool would that be? (The money, not the 3-pointers.) Not only would you feel great about yourself knowing you published an audiobook, but you would have an extra stream of income. Potentially thousands of extra dollars every month. And passive income at that—meaning you’re not trading your time to earn it.

“But I’m not an author, I’m just an [insert whatever profession you’re in]!”

Wait one second… Thousands of people just like you are finding our how they can make money with Amazon Audible by selling audiobooks.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make money with audiobooks, or you’re just looking for a business idea that makes sense for you, you’re in the right place.

But first let's go over what is Amazon Audible…

Note: If you want step-by-step instructions to creating profitable audio books, check out our Audible publishing course. We'll walk you through all the steps for publishing on Kindle Direct Publishing as well as converting the book into audio format. We have thousands of happy students enrolled earnings supplemental income practically every month. If you want to take a sneak peak of our process sign up for our free webinar. Claim your spot here.

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What Is Audible?

Maybe you’re only vaguely familiar with Audible. You know it’s some kind of audiobook thing but maybe you haven’t used it that much. Or maybe you’re an Audible superfan. Either way, we’ll walk you through what it is and how it works.

Audible is one of the gazillion companies owned by Amazon. It offers people access to digital audiobooks, podcasts and original content. You can subscribe to a monthly or annual plan and then buy credits to download Audible audiobooks. So if you spend a lot of time driving, or just like to listen to a book while you’re gardening, Audible gives you an easy way to catch up on the latest bestsellers.

Amazon describes it as “the leading provider of digital audiobooks” and they boast that they have “over 180,000 audiobooks and more to choose from…” That’s a lot!

But Audible has also become a great way for self-published authors to make extra money on their work. All they have to do is convert their eBook to the audiobook format and they suddenly have another digital product to sell.

But before we show you how you can make money with Audible, there’s one last order of business.

You’re a Writer…

Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, you are. Think of all the things you’ve written over the course of your life. Even if you’re on the younger side, you’ve probably already written 100,000+ words worth of text messages, emails and school essays.

You can put that same energy that got you through school and college into creating a self-published book. Your first eBook can even be as short as 5,000 words, which is basically just a few longer papers like you did in college. Heck, you can even hire a writer!

Don’t limit yourself. Half of the battle to getting on an entrepreneurial track is having the confidence you can do it. You have to first believe that it’s possible, and that’s why we’re here. To show you how.

How to Publish an Audiobook

We’re not going to take a ton of time here showing you every detail involved in listing an audiobook on Audible. (Check out our article on how to publish a book on Amazon for the full process.) We’re just going to give you an overview so you can see how it’s possible.

It all starts with having a book. This way you’ll have something to convert into your first audiobook. But how do you publish a book? Well, it’s easier than you might think.

Start by picking a topic you’re passionate about or something you know a lot about. In fact, our self-publishing course will even help you decide what to publish (more on that in a bit.) Ask your friends and family even if there’s something that they have noticed that you can’t stop talking about. Or maybe there is some unique story from your life or your experience that could help others. Let your imagination run wild. Write down the top 10 books you could publish and then pick the one that would have the best marketing appeal.

Once you have your idea, it’s time to plan and publish. Setting aside even just a little time every day will mean that you have a finished book in no time. There are also a bunch of artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools that can take some of this work off your plate. Go ahead. Delegate some of that planning, writing, and editing to the computers. You can always edit it and add your unique voice to it after the AI does its thing.

After you finish your first draft, get some rest, and maybe a snack. Then get some feedback about it from people you trust. Let them read it and see what they think. But be careful you don’t let them squash your dreams. Don’t let negativity crowd out your goals. Everyone has an opinion these days and they’re more than happy to share with you what they think. Just get a wide variety of feedback and then incorporate the stuff that makes sense to you. After all, your name is going to be on the book, not theirs (unless you’re using a pen name).

Next you’ll need to have your book edited and formatted properly. You can easily hire a freelance professional on websites like Fiverr and Upwork for this part of the writing process.

Now the exciting part. Publishing it! It’s really fast and easy to publish through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Once it’s live, you can then convert your eBook into an audiobook and you’re off to the races.

Now that we’ve learned a little bit about making audiobooks for money, let’s look at one last thing.

Level Up With Audible’s Creator Program

If you’re a podcaster and are looking to add some extra icing on your financial cake, you can also enroll in Audible’s Creator Program. (Actually, there are a ton of ways to make money on Amazon, but we’re just focusing on Audible here.)

We’re big fans of Audible’s Creator Program because it’s a really easy way to create another income stream and monetize your podcast.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how it works. You simply refer your podcast listeners to a 30-day free Audible trial with a special link. Your listeners can then check out Audible’s free trial landing page. For each person who signs up, you get a $15 commission. Sweet! Since Audible is such a widely recognized app, your listeners will enjoy trying it for free and also taking advantage of the two free audiobooks that come with the trial.

Free Audiobook Training Webinar

Hopefully you’re just a little curious by now about the potential to make extra money with Audible. But we’ve only just scratched the surface of publishing audiobooks on Audible. There’s so much more that could be said, and there’s so much more to learn about how to do it right.

That’s why we created a free webinar that will show you exactly what you need to do to make this happen. To turn your dreams into a reality. And we know that you can do it. Thousands of people around the world are breaking free from their boring jobs to build the entrepreneurial life of their dreams.

Sign up for our free webinar today to learn more about how you can make extra money with Amazon’s Audible program.